Fine line between surrealism & costume shop closeouts

The day's activities had costumed pub crawl planned. While Katrina themed outfits were the predominate choice, normal costumes such as Dorothy from Oz, a Genie, and even Cartman of South Park were seen. We circled up around 11 in the morning and started the crawl all through the French Quarter hitting numerous pubs, landmarks, and historic sites. With 100+ hashers in attendance, there was never a lack of conversation or want for fun. Out of all the places I have been, New Orlean's liquor laws made the most sense. Instead of outlawing alcohol in public or other restrictive aspects, the law simple prohibited the use of glass containers. Now that actually makes sense and allows for people to mingle and enjoy themselves. At the end of the trail, we had a scrumptious catered meal in a theater that was reserved for our group. A few hashers were kind enough to let some of us crash at the hotel for a bit for a power nap and relaxation so that we could recharge our mental batteries before returning to the fray. We walked around a bit more in the evening as separate groups and enjoyed some of the smaller hole-in-the wall that made New Orleans famous. Hmmm, I'm really starting to like this place!

New Orleans means business and all that jazz

After the RDR in New Orleans in August, I knew I wanted to spend more time in the area and check off one more thing from my list. In religion class my sophomore year of high school, our teacher had us make a list of goals or things we wanted to do, so I tried to tally up all the things I thought would be fun or fulfilling before I died. Since then, I have been so fortunate to be able to check off so many of them such as skydiving, SCUBA diving, traveling out of the country, and even going to the top of the Empire State Building at night. Attending a real Mardi Gras actually on Fat Tuesday was one of those things. The New Orleans Hash House Harriers set up a Mardi Gras weekend, so I knew this was a perfect opportunity to go.

A week before I left, I sent a shout-out to their local email lists to find some kind of lodging arrangements. Within a couple of days, I had several offers from various locals inviting me to crash at their place. Even as a back up, I had a few responses from locals on couchsurfing.com that also welcomed me should my other plans not work out. I was able to stay with Angela (FillMeUp) for the week. I flew over early Friday morning and, having previously downloaded the bus routes before leaving, rode into town on the local routes. My host seemed quite surprised that I was able to travel on my own from the airport on the local bus line having made at least two transfers without any problems. The GPS with the downloaded maps and pre-set waypoints proved to be invaluable in helping me find the most direct routes during my stay. Once I made introductions with my gracious host and the other out-of-towners crashing at her place (PicOfTheLitter and ClapOn), we had breakfast and went shopping for costumes. I picked up some gladiator costume that would be my secondary outfit for when my Afghan Burqa got too hot to wear. Since we were already out and about, FillMeUp drove us to the Ninth Ward area of New Orleans. This was a place where you saw the most devastation due to the levee break. The damage even 6 months later is nearly indescribable. Homes were often laying in the middle of the streets with overturned cars and even houses on top of cars were still an extremely common sight. We stopped and even checked out a couple of the homes up close. The smell of mold was stifling and I nearly feared that I would return home with Black Lung if I lingered too long.

We returned to the house and got dressed up to head to the hotel for hash registration. One aspect I like about away trips is the opportunity to meet so many new people and hang out. After mingling for a while, we circled up and left for the evening pub crawl through the downtown area. We hit three bars or so and got to see a bit of the upper French Quarter. All too soon the evening ended, so we retired back at the house to prepare for another long day.

"Leaving, on a jet plane, Don't know when I'll be back again"

I'll be in New Orleans from Friday morning until Wednesday afternoon for Mardi Gras. I was there a few weeks before Katrina hit, so it'll be interesting to see the contrast. I was last in the city in September for the NOH3 Red Dress Run with several friends and we all decided that we were going back for this event, however one by one they dropped off, so I'm apparently going stag. I'll be there through Fat Tuesday and will return Wednesday afternoon, work Thursday, and then head to Daytona Beach for Bike Week on Friday afternoon. I'll have to leave around 2-3PM so that I can get back in time to get a good seat in the lawn area for the Coldplay concert that evening.

I just started packing tonight for my early flight and even just started to make sleeping arrangements this week. I kind of like the idea of a bit of adventure and not having anything definitive set, though I have several back up plans. I have had 4-5 hashers invite me to stay at their place and even have a few contacts from couchsurfing.com invite me to crash with them. So though I am not certain as to where I'll be staying, I'll at least be a bit protected from the elements and have a place to charge my camera and maybe, hopefully, get a shower. To me, it just all adds to the adventure and to the stories down the road. I hope to visit the D-Day Museum on Wednesday before I head back to home, but don't have any other plans in particular while I am there except for the Mardi Gras Madness hash Fri-Sun. I'll try to update the blog when I return, but I'll have a lot to do, so I may not get to it.

Have a safe week friends, I'll have a Hand Grenade in your memory.

"If she doesn't live forever, why buy her diamonds?"

This Christmas a few friends and I were hanging around and the subject of diamonds came up. As might be expected, there seemed to be a partisan debate along the gender lines. The double X chromosome contingent was of the persuasion that a diamond ring is pretty much a necessity to remotely demonstrate the true love necessary for an engagement. The defining characteristics were things such as tradition, commitment, and effort. Further justification where ideas that it was always done that way and that the time taken to earn the money to pay for such an item should help solidify the decision to make that lifetime commitment. The Y chromosome debaters attempted to bring up history as a means to debunk the aspect of tradition as it was then pointed out that such rings were not even given until after the practice was portrayed (on a paid basis, mind you) in movies. I never claimed to be particularly erudite in this area, but I remembered through a previous article that this practice did not even start until our grandparents' generation of around the mid-1940s. In 1982, 'The Atlantic' had an article on the diamond industry and a bit of investigative history. Part of it pointed out that:

In 1947, the agency commissioned a series of portraits of "engaged socialites." The idea was to create prestigious "role models" for the poorer middle-class wage-earners. The advertising agency explained, in its 1948 strategy paper, "We spread the word of diamonds worn by stars of screen and stage, by wives and daughters of political leaders, by any woman who can make the grocer's wife and the mechanic's sweetheart say 'I wish I had what she has.'"

People often use the oppression of farmers and the poor as a means to dissuade against drug use, but rarely is anything heard about the legal cartel and the atrocities committed for profit. If you are wanting, or already have a diamond ring, then you should take the time to read the article and understand the full history of this practice. I'm not trying to kill the allure of the symbolism that involves an engagement, however you really should have more of an idea of what happens behind the scenes and what it takes to get to you the ball of carbon molecules that you might want to wear on your finger. BTW, the picture above is a representation of the covalent bonding of carbon atoms, pretty much the same thing that is in coal or the core of a pencil, that is the make-up of a diamond. Now with that said, I'm not against gifts of affection in the least and actually think that the small things in life make things fun. When I make that commitment to someone, I already something planned that well be very personal and symbolic. What it is no one, but one person, will know until that time.

You know you're getting old if you actually know the band playing at the state fair.

After getting the templates for the granite countertop at the house complete this morning, I had to run to the office to fix a network problem that cropped up this weekend and had everyone offline. Once that was fixed, dad and I went to lunch and then took the rest of the afternoon off to hang out. Since neither of us had not been in a couple of years, we decided to visit the Florida State Fair. I remember when we used to go to the Coastal Carolina Fair in Ladson, South Carolina every year or so when I was a bit more young. The one thing I always looked for was the big yellow slide with the burlap sacks. So just for a bit of reminiscing, I had to buy a few tickets just to do it again. It is funny how in the good ol' days I would spend most of the time in the Midway area on old school favorites such as the Gravitron, Zipper, and pretty much every fun house they had, but now I enjoyed the exhibits even more, especially the photography and student art areas.

Of course, I also had to get an Elephant Ear, however I am sure my nutritionist friend will chastise me, so I promise to do penance by ensuring I have at least one more serving of vegetables for every meal for a week and even add some distance to my daily run. Hummmph, all this for just 2-3 bits of a sugared, deep friend piece of dough. Besides, who wants to grow up and have to completely deny themselves a few guilty pleasures? Speaking of guilty pleasures, I'll be leaving Friday for a trip to New Orleans to attend Mardi Gras and will return Wednesday the 28th. I'm looking forward to my second trip to New Orleans in a year, especially since I got to see it less than a month before Hurricane Katrina hit the area. This should be a pretty fun time and with that and Bike Week in Daytona the weekend I get back, I'm pretty sure that I'll be all partied out for quite a while.

"I can calculate the motions of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of the people." - Isaac Newton

I went to the 'Bodies' exhibit at MOSI (Museum of Science and Industry) Friday night. The exhibit was a bit controversial when it first opened, however the focus was on the discussion of whether the people on display consented having their bodies on display. The show had been extend past the original run since it has been so popular. It was a great way to introduce to people the various aspects of anatomy and biology. While I have experienced a lot of dissections in middle and high school, this was still very interesting. Unfortunately, just from hearing various conversations by other attendees, it is sad as to how little people have in terms of any knowledge of biology. Almost every aspect of the body was covered with even numerous examples of diseases and illnesses such as cancer on display.

Though it was a bit separated from the rest of the exhibit, there was a room that showed fetuses in various levels of development and progression. The show was made even more enjoyable by the presence of a friend and laid back banter and even humor. I would definitely recommend the viewing of the exhibit and feel that every child should be exposed to this kind of educational opportunity, no matter how young or old they may be. The exhibit will be open until the first of April, so check it out if you can.

A moving (out) neutrino gathers no mass.

I joined my friends Christen and Jessica (along with some of their associates and work mates) at the 'Moving Out' performance at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. We met at the parking garage where we happened to start the Red Dress Run this weekend in Hyde Park and then went to eat and have a few glasses of wine at The Wine Exchange. Both of them work at the TBPAC and thus had extra tickets and were kind enough to invite me. Though the evening was great, I wasn't too impressed with the show as I more thoroughly enjoyed the company of friends. It really wasn't too much more than a bunch of Billy Joel songs with a dancing theme for the visuals. The dancing was really good at least, so I still had a lovely time. There was no dialogue in the least to aid a story and the whole show, including intermission, was less than 2 hours. After the show I went back to the Hyde Park area and walked around for a while scouting the area since I am setting trail for tomorrow's Wednesday night hash.

Why do all goths seem to express their individuality in the same way?

On Monday night I went to The Castle in Ybor with LateNightDriveThru (LDT) from DC. She's in town for the week for vacation and to attend her sister's wedding and wanted to explore the area a bit. She was told to check out the place and, since I had not been there in more than 6 years, dragged me with her (well, I volunteered since I didn't have anything else planned that evening). Though it had been a while, it was about what I had expected and little seemed to have changed. It was still the goth hang out with most people sporting some individual style, which is perfectly fine to me. I was able to chat with a few nice folks that seemed to be a bit out of their element and quite wide eyed, but overall I had a good time (but wish I had known about the coat room so I wouldn't have to carry the darn sweater around the whole time). It was a nice place to hang out, get a cheap beer or two, and even listen to some retro 80's music, but as would be expected, the place stank pretty bad from all the smoke. Even though the temperature was near freezing, I stripped off my shirt and sweater before getting into the truck and threw them in a plastic bag in attempts to try to avoid infecting my vehicle. I'd like to see if we could get into the bar for the clown pub crawl if we do it this year. The contrast would be pretty hilarious. I like the place since it is easier to talk to people than one might expect.

"Goth clubs should serve coffee; ice cold coffee with nails and broken glass and call then 'depresso's"

Tampa Red Dress Run

Saturday was the Tampa Red Dress Run with Kiddie and Semper Bi as the hares. We had a really early start, for a pub crawl, of around noon so that people could go to the Gasparilla night parade if they wanted. Since I had seen everything from red body latex paint, red Saran Wrap, and even red duct tape dresses, I figured that I'd try for something a bit different; so I decided to go for a full body Afghan burqa. I did some internet searching and could only really find them in blue or black. Apparently red isn't a popular color for some reason and had to have one specially made and then shipped over from Pakistan. The full body burqa only had a mesh covering for the eyes and I needed some kind of access for drinking, eating, flirting, etc since even using a straw would be a hassle. ICP and I went to More Sex's place to pick up my outfit since she was quite kind enough to do some alterations for me by cutting around the mesh and adding some Velcro backing so I could open and close the flap (kind of like the knight in 'Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail'). We met at the Hyde Park complimentary parking garage's top level (also known as the 'there is too much f'n wind deck' in nautical terms) and waited for the hashers to arrive. We had a bunch of out of towners come in with several from Gainesville (Hops on Pops and 4-5 of her friends), BangsHerMash from England, and LateNightDriveThru from Washington DC (in town for her sister's wedding).

For transportation, Kiddie had given us change and a bus/trolley map that would take us downtown. We got a lot of honks from passing cars, including a red (of course) fire truck. We loaded onto the bus and headed downtown and had a good time singing through a few hash songs. We were doing a rendention of 'Today is Monday' and got to Friday, at which time the driver gets on the bus intercom and says "I like Friday too" to much laughter and applause from the hashers. A bit later, just before we get to the final destination, he gets on the intercom again and says "You should be aware that Florida state law requires that all hookers must stand in front of the yellow line". I immediately jump up and run to the front of the bus, well as much quickly as one may do in a burqa with a field of vision like that of looking through a toilet paper tube. He just glances over, grabs the intercom again, and simple says "ummm, nevermind". Too funny.

The first bar was across the street from the Ice Palace, Newk's. As we're going in I spot a line of police motorcycles parked in front and run up to get ICP to snap a pic (the one you see with blog this entry). It was a bit windy, so the burqa was a bit form hugging and gives an overall "I'm batman" kind of look, but I hope it'll make the hash pin-up calendar soon. After jumping on another bus (and having a shot stop" along the way) we walked to another bar later that turned out to be a local gay bar that opened up early just for us, since we were the only patrons. There was a tune box there so we loaded up on some songs, which I obviously had to include 'Y.M.C.A' from 'The Village People' and even a selection from 'Big Bad Voodoo Daddy' so I could do a little swing. We hit "The Hub" on our next pub stop and met a lot of great people since it is a pretty well known bar anyway. Kitty Litter and a few of the guys chatted with a couple of ladies and used one of them for a singing of 'Aloutte', much to the joy of the other bar patrons. By this point, all bathrooms became unisex as there was no distinction as to who belonged in one room or another, merely what seemed to have the shortest line. We even picked up a couple of other guys that joined us for the rest of the event and showered them with red accessories or extra dresses so they would fit right in.

We headed further downtown and went to the park that was being used as a staging area for the night parade and stopped at the Red Barron pizza tent for some free samples that definitely hit the spot! We went over to Gilligan's pub and relaxed there a while as the floats were set up. Instead of heading straight to the next bar, we simply walked through the barriers and went straight down the streets that had the parade floats set up with all the krewes hanging around waiting for the start. We stopped at seemingly every float and chatted with the pirates and their wenches who were as interested in us as we were them. I had never seen the hash pack so spread out and it was a miracle that those of us in the back could even find the bar since there were no trail markings being used. We went to Amberchucks, just a block from our first bar, and then took the bus back towards Hyde Park with a stop at The Moustrap by the University of Tampa campus. This was a dive bar that I am sure was well over the capacity limit with just the hashers. We had a few late comers (though better to come late than not at all I suppose) such as OpenWide and PorkTheClown. When we left a SNAFU had us walk past the bus stop and by the time we figured it out and turned around, we missed the pickup. Apparently after 9PM the busses were on a 30 minute schedule and of course we left the last bar at exactly 9:05PM, so it truly sucked sitting in the cold waiting for the next pick-up. We entertained ourselves as best we could, which pretty much meant we just huddled together to try to stay warm since the amount of clothing used to cover our skin might have been able to be made into a single bed sheet, though every now and then one of use would break off and play with the hula-hoop that someone snagged somewhere along the trail.

A couple of us came back to my place to hang out in the hot tub, though there were a lot fewer that showed up than said they would. Apparently they were not all athletes like some of us and petered out before they made it to my house. The 101 degree water was a nice contrast to the cold air and a good way to end the day and soak the sore muscles and blisters. Though we didn't have a lot of people (with only about 50 people or so attending which I suppose was by design to make it easier on the hares with logistics), it was a good time.

ICP has a bunch of photos posted on www.hashflash.com. Click on 'Tampa Flash' and then 'Red Dress 06'.

You grew up in the 80s if you thought the Thriller video was cool.

OK, so I couldn't sleep tonight. I was just playing around the Google video site and scanning through the popular videos. There is some pretty interesting (at least at 3AM) stuff such as Top Gun Brokeback Squadron, crazy Russian jumpers, things women cannot do, the joy of children, and the worse job ever. Enjoy.